TRW Insight / Bangladesh
Dhaka's air sits far above even the relaxed national standard, and the regulator now acts by area, by sector and through the courts. Knowing what the 2022 Rules, the kiln law and the vehicle controls require decides whether a site keeps operating.
Air quality regulations Bangladesh: the 2026 framework
Air quality regulations Bangladesh businesses must now plan around are no longer a single line in an environmental clearance certificate. They are a layered regime: the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022, the Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kiln Establishment (Control) Act 2013 as amended, the vehicle provisions of the Environment Conservation Act 1995 and the Road Transport Act 2018, and a run of High Court Division directions that has kept Dhaka's air on the court list since 2019. In 2026, an elected government has added political weight, with the Prime Minister ordering a zero-tolerance approach to activities that pollute the capital's air.
This guide focuses on air specifically. It explains what the 2022 Rules actually do, how ambient and emission standards work, how degraded air shed declarations can freeze a whole upazila, what the brick kiln law requires, how vehicle emission controls are enforced, what industrial operators should have on file, how the Department of Environment and mobile courts act in practice, and how air-pollution writs shape enforcement. For the wider environmental framework, clearance and litigation, we link to TRW's dedicated guides rather than repeat them.
Summary: Air quality in Bangladesh is regulated through the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022 made under the Environment Conservation Act 1995, a dedicated brick kiln statute, vehicle emission and vehicle-age controls, and continuing High Court Division directions. Enforcement is led by the Department of Environment with executive magistrates running mobile courts, and since 2025 the government has used area-wide degraded air shed declarations to restrict kilns, open burning and new polluting industries.
Key point: The most consequential tool in the 2022 Rules is rule 5: the Director General of the Department of Environment can declare a degraded air shed and impose an area plan. Savar's declaration in August 2025 halted all kilns except tunnel and hybrid Hoffman kilns and stopped new clearances for air-polluting industries across the upazila.
At a glance
Core rules
The Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022, published in July 2022 under the Environment Conservation Act 1995, set standards and planning powers.
Air sheds
Rule 5 lets the Department of Environment declare a degraded air shed; Savar was the first, in August 2025.
Brick kilns
The 2013 Act, amended in 2019, requires a Deputy Commissioner's licence, clearance and approved kiln technology.
Vehicles
Smoke-emitting vehicles may be stopped, tested and detained; age limits for buses and trucks were reinstated in 2025.
Courts
The High Court Division's nine-point Dhaka air directions of 2020 were ordered to be fully implemented in October 2025.
Table of Contents
What air quality regulations Bangladesh imposes in 2026
Air quality regulations Bangladesh applies today rest on one parent statute and several specialised instruments. The Environment Conservation Act 1995 gives the Director General of the Department of Environment broad powers to take measures for environmental conservation and to direct the closure or regulation of polluting activities, subject to prior written notice.[6] Beneath it sit the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022, which carry the detailed air-specific machinery: planning, area declarations, the listing of polluting activities, and emission standards for industry, vehicles and specific project types.[1]
Two further pillars sit beside the Rules. The brick kiln statute regulates the single most visible source of particulate pollution around Dhaka. Vehicle emissions are controlled through section 6 of the 1995 Act and through the vehicle fitness and economic-life provisions of the Road Transport Act 2018.[6] [9] Overlaying everything is public interest litigation: the High Court Division has been issuing and re-issuing directions on Dhaka's air since a rule in January 2019.[10]
How this guide fits with TRW's environmental series
This article deals with air. The structure of the 1995 Act, the penalty table and the Director General's powers are analysed in our guide to the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act. Clearance categories and the 2023 Rules are covered in our environmental impact assessment guide, and the post-clearance obligations of an operating factory in our guide to environmental compliance in Bangladesh. The broad map of the field is in environmental law in Bangladesh.
Why air is now a board-level risk
The gap between the law and the air is wide. Dhaka's 2025 annual average PM2.5 concentration was reported at 90.35 micrograms per cubic metre, about eighteen times the World Health Organization annual guideline, and January 2026 averaged 193.[5] That gap is why the regulator now acts by area and by sector rather than plant by plant, and why a compliant factory can still be caught by a blanket measure aimed at its neighbours.
The Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change published the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022 on 26 July 2022 under the Environment Conservation Act 1995. The Rules provide for a national air quality management plan and an air pollution prevention plan, identify air-polluting activities, and set emission standards for industry, motor vehicles and particular project types including power generation, textiles, cement and fertiliser.[1]
Rule 4: the national air quality management plan
Rule 4 empowers the Director General to prepare a national air quality management scheme to reduce and control air pollution.[2] The plan is not merely aspirational. Once adopted, it becomes the reference point against which the Department sets sectoral priorities, monitoring targets and enforcement campaigns, and it is the document most likely to be cited when the Department justifies a restriction on a particular industry or district.
Rule 5: degraded air sheds
Rule 5 allows the Director General to declare an area a degraded air shed when air quality exceeds the prescribed limits and the area is severely polluted.[2] A declaration triggers an area action plan, and that plan can restrict technologies, ban activities and halt new approvals. It is the most powerful instrument in air quality regulations Bangladesh has adopted, because it operates on geography rather than on the conduct of any individual operator.
Rule 6: listing polluting activities
Rule 6 lets the Director General list the activities responsible for air pollution, grouped broadly into industries, vehicles, construction and waste.[2] A listing matters because it tells operators in those sectors that their activity is a target, and it supports later directions, conditions and campaigns. Construction contractors and waste operators, who often assume air rules are aimed at chimneys, should read the list as applying to them.
Committees, cooperation and awards
Rule 15 establishes a committee of representatives of relevant ministries, organisations and institutions to advise on air pollution management, and the Rules require government bodies, including the Department and local government, to cooperate in maintaining air quality. Rule 16 allows the government to recognise persons or institutions that contribute to controlling air pollution.[2] The inter-agency duty is significant in litigation: it is the hook on which petitioners hang claims that city corporations, transport authorities and district administrations have failed to act.
Offences and penalties under the Rules
Breach of the 2022 Rules is punishable with imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh, or both.[2] In practice the more serious exposure lies elsewhere: in the 1995 Act's higher penalty bands for breaching a Director General's direction or operating without clearance, in closure and utility disconnection, and in confiscation of equipment, all of which are covered in our Environment Conservation Act guide.
Ambient air quality and emission standards
Standards are the legal yardstick for every other part of the regime. They fall into two families. Ambient standards fix the concentration of pollutants permitted in the open air of an area, and are what trigger a degraded air shed declaration. Emission standards fix what an individual source, a stack, a generator or an exhaust pipe, may release, and are what an inspector tests against when deciding whether a specific operator is in breach.
The PM2.5 standard
The 2022 revision set the national PM2.5 standard at 35 micrograms per cubic metre, replacing the 15 micrograms per cubic metre adopted in 2005.[3] The change was controversial: the new figure equals the World Health Organization's first and least demanding interim target, while the WHO's own annual guideline is 5 micrograms per cubic metre.[3] Critics read the revision as aligning the law with the air rather than the air with the law. For operators, the practical point is that even the relaxed standard is exceeded in most of the country for much of the year.
Sectoral emission standards
The 2022 Rules carry emission standards for industry generally and for automobiles, together with specific standards for project types such as power generation, textiles, cement and fertiliser.[1] The Environment Conservation Rules 2023 continue to govern water quality, effluent standards and treatment plants, so an operating factory now looks to two sets of rules: the 2023 Rules for what leaves the site as liquid, and the 2022 Rules for what leaves it as smoke, gas and dust.
How standards work in an enforcement case
A standard only bites when someone measures against it. The Department relies on its continuous air monitoring stations for ambient data, and Savar's declaration rested on readings showing annual average concentrations close to three times the national standard.[4] Source-specific breaches turn on stack testing and on-site sampling. Where a dispute arises, the sampling method, chain of custody and laboratory accreditation are usually more contestable than the number itself, and an operator with its own contemporaneous test records is in a far stronger position.
Degraded air sheds: the Savar precedent
On 17 August 2025 the Director General of the Department of Environment issued a circular under rule 5 declaring Savar upazila in Dhaka district a degraded air shed. From September 2025 brick kilns there were barred from operating except tunnel kilns and hybrid Hoffman kilns; open burning of solid waste was banned; and new location and environmental clearances for industries that may cause air pollution were stopped, together with other activities listed in the action plan.[4] The rationale was regional: during the dry season, winds carry Savar's pollution into Dhaka for close to five months.[4]
What the declaration did in practice
Implementation has been partial. Around thirty to forty kilns restarted in February 2026 after obtaining High Court Division permission, with one owner describing a six-month window granted on a petition citing financial losses; the reported case is Writ Petition No. 15982 of 2025.[5] Smoke from the Amin Bazar dumpsite also continued to affect residents despite the ban on open burning.[5] The lesson for both regulators and operators is that a degraded air shed declaration is a strong administrative act, but it remains open to judicial review on proportionality and procedure.
What a further declaration would mean for investors
The Savar model can be replicated wherever monitoring data supports it. The risk for an investor is not only closure of an existing kiln but the freeze on new clearances: a manufacturing project in an area that is later declared may find its clearance, expansion or renewal stalled. Due diligence on a site near Dhaka, Gazipur or Narayanganj should now ask whether the area's monitoring data approaches declaration levels, whether the project's process is likely to be classed as air-polluting, and whether the technology choice would survive an area plan.
Brick kilns under the Brick Kiln Act 2013, as amended
The Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kiln Establishment (Control) Act 2013 is the dedicated statute for the sector. It was amended by an ordinance in 2018 and then by Act No. 1 of 2019.[7] Department of Environment sources attribute about 58 per cent of Dhaka's air pollution to brick kilns, which explains why kilns sit at the centre of both enforcement drives and court orders.[4] The location rules and penalty structure are summarised in our environmental law guide; this section focuses on what matters for air.
Licence and clearance
Section 4 prohibits brick making without a licence from the Deputy Commissioner of the district, and an environmental clearance certificate must be obtained before the licence.[7] The two approvals are linked: a kiln whose clearance is cancelled or expires loses the foundation of its licence. In September 2024 the government announced that no new kiln permits would be issued and that 3,491 kilns operating without environmental clearance were to be shut down.[4]
Soil, fuel and coal
Section 5 restricts the soil that may be used, section 6 prohibits firewood as fuel and controls coal use, and section 7 makes it an offence to use coal with excessive sulphur, ash, mercury or similar contaminants.[7] The coal provision is directly relevant to air quality. In July 2026 the State Minister for Environment identified high-sulphur coal as a significant contributor to kiln pollution and called for a quality standard for kiln coal.[14] Kiln operators should keep supplier certificates and test reports for every coal consignment.
Location and technology
Section 8 bars kilns from residential, protected, commercial and agricultural areas, forests, sanctuaries, wetlands, ecologically critical areas, and city corporation, municipal and upazila headquarters areas.[7] The Act gave existing kilns two years from 1 July 2014 to convert to modern technology or relocate.[7] In a degraded air shed the technology bar rises further, as Savar showed: only tunnel and hybrid Hoffman kilns could continue.[4]
The 2026 policy position
The elected government has signalled a two-track approach. At a July 2026 meeting with the brick manufacturers' association, Environment Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said the focus should be on reducing kiln pollution rather than immediate closure, because alternatives to bricks were not yet fully available, while insisting that wood must not be used as fuel under any circumstances and that topsoil use must stop. The State Minister said there would be no leniency for illegal kilns.[14] Owners should read this as a window for upgrade, not a reprieve for unlicensed operation.
Vehicle emissions and vehicle-age controls
Vehicle emissions are controlled at two levels. Section 6 of the Environment Conservation Act 1995 provides that a vehicle emitting smoke or gas injurious to health or the environment shall not be operated or switched on except for test operation; emissions are injurious when they exceed the standards set by rules. The Director General or an authorised officer may test or detain the vehicle, and the driver, the owner or both are liable.[6] The automobile emission standards themselves now sit in the 2022 Rules.[1]
Economic life under the Road Transport Act 2018
The second level is vehicle age. In its 2020 directions the High Court Division required the government to fix the economic life of vehicles under section 36 of the Road Transport Act 2018 and to restrict older vehicles in the capital.[9] In May 2023 the then government set economic lifespans of 20 years for buses and minibuses and 25 years for trucks, covered vans and other freight vehicles, then suspended the plan after resistance. On 6 June 2025 the interim government reinstated the circular.[8]
Enforcement on the road
BRTA data showed 80,309 overage vehicles nationwide, including 41,140 trucks, covered vans and tankers over 25 years old and 39,169 expired buses and minibuses. A BRTA operation against old and black-smoke vehicles began on 21 July 2025 with police and Department of Environment support; it lost momentum after protests, but seizures continued, including seven Dhaka buses sent to a dumping station in September 2025.[8] Fleet operators, logistics companies and bus franchisees should treat registration age and smoke tests as compliance items, not as matters for the drivers.
Testing capacity and electric buses
Enforcement has long been limited by testing capacity. The World Bank's Bangladesh Clean Air Project, approved on 18 June 2025 with US$290 million, funds five new vehicle inspection centres, upgrades to two non-functioning centres, mobile inspection centres and 20 mobile emissions testing units, together with 400 electric buses to replace ageing diesel buses.[12] As that capacity comes online, roadside testing is likely to become routine rather than campaign-driven.
Industrial compliance for air emissions
For a factory, air quality regulations Bangladesh enforces arrive mainly through the environmental clearance certificate. Clearance conditions typically specify stack heights, control equipment and testing frequencies for boilers, generators and process emissions, and the 2022 Rules supply the numerical limits. The general post-clearance programme, covering renewals, inspections and record-keeping, is set out in our environmental compliance guide. This section addresses the points that are specific to air.
Know which standard applies to each source
A typical textile or garment-processing plant has several air sources: a steam boiler, standby diesel generators, dryers and finishing lines, and fugitive dust from storage and loading. Each should be mapped to the relevant emission standard and to the clearance condition that governs it. Power, cement and fertiliser projects face sector-specific standards under the 2022 Rules and should hold an emissions register that ties every stack to its limit, its last test and its control equipment.[1]
Continuous emissions monitoring is coming
The Clean Air Project will operationalise a Continuous Emissions Monitoring Program for real-time monitoring of major industrial pollution sources, with preliminary data from major sources to be disclosed.[12] Real-time data changes the enforcement dynamic: an exceedance becomes visible to the regulator, and potentially to the public, without an inspection. Large emitters should test their own monitoring now, so that the first public data set does not reveal a problem they did not know about.
Construction, dust and open burning
Developers and contractors are within scope. The High Court Division's directions require trucks carrying soil, sand or waste to be covered, construction materials to be covered, and road works to follow tender conditions, and the degraded air shed model bans open burning of solid waste.[10] [4] Contract terms should allocate these obligations to the contractor expressly, with site rules on covering, sprinkling and waste disposal, because the developer's name is the one on the clearance.
Location risk and expansion
An operator in a heavily polluted area should build declaration risk into expansion planning. Savar's circular stopped new location and environmental clearances for air-polluting industries.[4] An expansion that requires a fresh or amended clearance could therefore be blocked even where the existing plant is fully compliant. For acquisitions, the question belongs in due diligence alongside licences and title; see our guide to the factory licence in Bangladesh.
Personal liability of directors
Air offences carry the same corporate-liability rule as other breaches of the 1995 Act: owners, directors and managers are deemed liable unless they prove lack of knowledge or reasonable efforts to prevent the breach. A documented air-compliance programme, with board-level reporting of test results and corrective action, is the evidence that discharges that burden.[6]
Department of Environment enforcement and mobile courts
The Department of Environment enforces air quality regulations Bangladesh has adopted through three main channels: administrative directions and closure orders under the 1995 Act, mobile court operations run with executive magistrates, and prosecutions in the environment courts. Under section 4, the Director General may direct the closure, prohibition or regulation of a polluting activity, after prior written notice.[6] In practice it is the mobile court that most operators encounter first.
How a mobile court operates
A mobile court is led by an executive magistrate from the Deputy Commissioner's office, with a Department of Environment officer acting as prosecutor and police support. The magistrate can try the offence summarily on site, impose a fine, order operations halted and, for kilns, direct demolition of chimneys and destruction of unburnt bricks. Utility disconnection often follows.[11] The process is fast and the record thin, which is why the operator's own documents, produced on the spot, carry so much weight.
The scale of enforcement
Between 2 January and 10 July 2025 the Department conducted 1,191 mobile court operations, filed 2,846 cases and collected over Tk 25.61 crore in fines for violations including air pollution. In the same period 483 illegal kiln chimneys were demolished, 216 kilns ordered to close, unburnt bricks destroyed at 132 sites and services to 91 industrial units disconnected.[11] The Ministry said the drives would continue with greater rigour.[11]
What a fine does and does not settle
A mobile court fine closes the immediate case. It does not cure the underlying breach, validate the operation or protect against a further direction, a clearance cancellation or a second-offence prosecution. Paying and continuing as before is the most common way an air case escalates. The better course is to treat the fine as the start of a corrective plan, documented and reported to the Department.
Responding to an inspection or notice
The sequence that follows sets out the steps we recommend when the Department or a mobile court arrives, or when a notice is served.
Gather the core documents
Keep the environmental clearance certificate, licences, kiln licence where relevant and the latest stack and generator test reports ready for immediate production.
Identify the officials
Record the names and roles of the executive magistrate, the Department of Environment prosecutor and any police present, and the legal provision invoked.
Observe sampling
Have a trained staff member witness any sampling, note the method, location and time, and request split samples where possible.
Correct what can be corrected
Switch on or repair control equipment, stop open burning and cover materials at once; contemporaneous correction is strong mitigation.
Document the outcome
Obtain a copy of the order, the fine receipt and any closure or disconnection direction, and photograph the site.
Submit a corrective plan
Within days, write to the Department with a time-bound upgrade plan supported by fresh test data.
Assess a challenge
Review notice, power and proportionality; appeal or seek writ relief promptly where the order is flawed.
Report to the board
Record the incident, cost and corrective action at board level to protect directors under the corporate-liability rule.
High Court air-pollution writs
Public interest litigation has been the engine of air enforcement around Dhaka. The leading case was brought by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, which obtained a rule on 29 January 2019 and, on 13 January 2020, nine directions to curb the capital's air pollution.[10] The litigation framework, including standing and the Article 18A right, is explained in our guide to environmental litigation in Bangladesh; here we focus on what the air writs require.
The nine directions
The directions require: covering vehicles carrying soil, sand or waste; covering construction materials; regular water sprinkling by the city corporations; contractor compliance with tender conditions in road works; seizure of black-smoke vehicles; restriction of outdated vehicles under the Road Transport Act; closure of illegal brick kilns; closure of tyre factories operating without environmental clearance; and bagged storage and disposal of market waste.[10]
Repeated orders for implementation
The court has returned to the case repeatedly. In November 2020 a bench ordered implementation of the nine directions with a report within thirty days, adding that unlicensed brick fields be shut within two months and tyre burning and battery recycling without approval be stopped.[9] On 24 February 2025 the court ordered removal of all illegal kilns.[4] On 30 October 2025 a bench of Justice Md Rezaul Hasan and Justice Urmi Rahman ordered full implementation within three weeks and a compliance report, directed to the Department of Environment and both Dhaka city corporations.[10]
Writs from the other side
The writ jurisdiction is not only a tool for petitioners. Operators affected by a declaration, closure or cancellation can also seek review, as the Savar kiln owners did in obtaining temporary permission to operate.[5] The prospects depend on procedure: whether notice was given, whether the decision-maker had power, and whether the measure is proportionate. Our guide to the writ petition in Bangladesh explains the route.
2026 measures and the political direction
The 2026 position is shaped by an elected government that has made Dhaka's air an explicit priority. On 18 July 2026 Prime Minister Tarique Rahman directed authorities to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to activities that add to air and noise pollution in the capital, ordering automatic traffic lights at 50 further intersections, the removal of unfit, expired and high-emission buses and trucks, and faster transition away from outdated kilns, with expanded technology-based monitoring.[13] AI-based cameras for noise and honking were reported as under consideration rather than adopted.[13]
The kiln dialogue
Three days earlier, the Environment Ministry met the brick manufacturers' association. The ministerial line combined pressure on fuel and soil with tolerance on timing: no wood, no topsoil, cleaner technology and a coal quality standard, but a focus on reducing pollution rather than immediate shutdown.[14] A formal coal standard or revised kiln technology rules would be the next concrete step to watch.
Who regulates air quality in Bangladesh
Responsibility is spread across several bodies, and a single incident can engage more than one of them.
Department of Environment
Issues clearances, declares degraded air sheds, inspects, samples and prosecutes; its Director General holds the core powers.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Makes the rules, including the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022, and sets national air policy.
Deputy Commissioners and executive magistrates
License kilns and run mobile courts with Department prosecutors and police support.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
Enforces fitness, registration and vehicle economic-life limits and runs drives against black-smoke vehicles.
Dhaka North and South City Corporations
Responsible under the High Court directions for water sprinkling, dust control and market waste.
High Court Division
Supervises implementation of air-pollution directions and reviews declarations, closures and cancellations.
Air quality instruments compared
The table sets out the main instruments, who applies them and what they mean in practice.
| Instrument | Applied by | Targets | Key tool | Practical point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022 | Department of Environment | All air sources | Rule 5 degraded air shed | Area plans can freeze new clearances |
| Environment Conservation Act 1995 | Department of Environment | Industry and vehicles | Section 4 directions; section 6 vehicle smoke | Closure after prior written notice |
| Brick Kiln Act 2013 (amended 2019) | Deputy Commissioner and Department | Brick kilns | Licence plus clearance; fuel and location rules | No firewood; contaminant-laden coal is an offence |
| Road Transport Act 2018 | BRTA | Buses, trucks and fleets | Section 36 economic life | 20-year and 25-year limits reinstated in 2025 |
| High Court Division directions | Supreme Court | Agencies, contractors and kilns | Nine-point directions of 2020 | Enforcement peaks before compliance hearings |
Common mistakes to avoid under air quality regulations Bangladesh enforces
The same errors recur across the matters we see.
Treating clearance as the end of the story
An environmental clearance certificate is the starting point. A later degraded air shed declaration, a revised standard or a court direction can change what the site may do without any change in its own conduct.
Ignoring contractors and fleets
Dust from a contractor's trucks or smoke from a logistics fleet is attributed to the project. Allocate the obligations in contract and audit them.
Paying the fine and carrying on
A mobile court fine is not a licence. Repeat findings move an operator into heavier penalty bands and invite closure.
Relying on interim court relief
Temporary permission obtained by writ is time to upgrade, not a settlement. Courts expect visible progress at the next hearing.
Missing the coal and fuel trail
For kilns and boilers alike, the fuel record is now an enforcement focus. Keep certificates and test results for every consignment.
Outlook for air quality regulations Bangladesh businesses should plan for
Three trends will shape air quality regulations Bangladesh applies through 2027. First, the regime will become more area-based, as monitoring data supports further degraded air shed declarations around Dhaka and other industrial centres. Second, it will become more data-driven, as continuous emissions monitoring and mobile vehicle testing reduce the regulator's reliance on campaigns. Third, the government's dual message on kilns, pressure on fuel and soil combined with tolerance on timing, will need to resolve into formal standards and conversion deadlines. Operators who invest in cleaner technology and their own monitoring now will be best placed whichever way that resolves.
TRW advises manufacturers, kiln owners, developers and investors on air-emission compliance and enforcement through its manufacturing facilities practice, and on challenges to declarations and closures through its writ litigation practice.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main law on air quality regulations Bangladesh applies?
The Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022, made under the Environment Conservation Act 1995, are the main air-specific instrument. They sit alongside the brick kiln statute, vehicle controls and High Court Division directions.[1]
When did the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022 come into force?
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change published them on 26 July 2022.[1]
What is a degraded air shed?
Which area was declared first?
Savar upazila in Dhaka district, by a circular dated 17 August 2025, with kiln restrictions from September 2025.[4]
What is the national PM2.5 standard?
35 micrograms per cubic metre since the 2022 revision, up from 15 under the 2005 standard. The WHO annual guideline is 5.[3]
What is the penalty for breaching the 2022 Rules?
Up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh, or both. Heavier penalties under the 1995 Act may apply to breaches of directions or operating without clearance.[2]
Does a brick kiln need environmental clearance as well as a licence?
Yes. Section 4 of the 2013 Act requires a licence from the Deputy Commissioner, and environmental clearance must be obtained first.[7]
Can old buses and trucks be taken off the road?
Yes. Economic lifespans of 20 years for buses and minibuses and 25 years for freight vehicles were reinstated in June 2025, and BRTA mobile courts have seized black-smoke and overage vehicles.[8]
What did the High Court order in the Dhaka air case?
Nine directions in January 2020 covering dust, sprinkling, road works, vehicles, kilns, tyre factories and market waste, with an order for full implementation and a compliance report on 30 October 2025.[10]
Source register
Primary legal and regulatory sources
Materials checked on 21 October 2026. Confirm the current official text before relying on any provision.
- Enviliance ASIA, September 2022 — Bangladesh publishes the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022
- The Daily Star, 23 February 2023 — Implementation of laws combating air pollution (Air Pollution Control Rules 2022)
- Dhaka Tribune, 23 February 2024 — Revisiting PM2.5 standards in Bangladesh
- The Business Standard, 18 August 2025 — Savar declared degraded air shed under rule 5 of the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022
- The Daily Star, 14 March 2026 — Smoke fills the air we breathe
- Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995, as amended (sections 4, 6 and 16) — ADB Law and Policy Reform text
- HRPB — Brick fields and related concerns: the Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kiln Establishment (Control) Act 2013 as amended
- Prothom Alo, 26 September 2025 — BRTA seizes 7 buses emitting black smoke in capital
- Prothom Alo, 25 November 2020 — HC seeks quick action on curbing Dhaka's air pollution
- The Business Standard, 30 October 2025 — HC orders full implementation of 9-point directives to curb Dhaka's air pollution
- The Business Standard, 11 July 2025 — Over 1,100 mobile courts conducted, 699 brick kilns shut down in anti-pollution drives
- World Bank, 18 June 2025 — World Bank helps Bangladesh improve energy security and air quality (Bangladesh Clean Air Project)
- The Climate Watch, 18 July 2026 — PM orders tougher drive against Dhaka pollution
- The Financial Express, 15 July 2026 — Environment minister urges cleaner brick kilns instead of immediate shutdown
Related TRW assistance
Move from information to a defined next step
TRW advises manufacturers, kiln owners, developers, fleet operators and investors on air-emission compliance, degraded air shed risk, Department of Environment proceedings, mobile court responses and air-pollution writs. Explore our industrial parks, economic zones and manufacturing facilities practice and constitutional and writ litigation practice, or contact TRW to discuss your site.